December 8, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has declared that he has “absolute right” to issue a pardon to himself. Yet the law is much murkier than his confidence suggests.

No president has attempted to pardon himself while in office, so if Trump tries to do so in the next six weeks, he will be venturing into legally untested territory without clear guidance from the Constitution or from judges. Legal experts are divided on an inherently ambiguous question that was left vague by the Founding Fathers and has never had to be definitively resolved in court.

“It’s impossible to anticipate every factual scenario that could come up under a legal provision. This is why we have the courts,” said University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle.

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